Electronic Music

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Transcript of Electronic Music

Electronic MusicExpansion: 1960sIn the 1960s, the synthesizer was becoming more accessible for both academic and personal useThe theremin was becoming increasingly more popularly used in the advent of the science-fiction genre in both film and television (e.g. Doctor Who)In 1961, composer Josef Tal established the Centre for Electronic Music in Israel, Israel's first electronic music studio, at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, IsraelIn 1962, American composers Morton Subotnick and Ramon Sender established the San Francisco Tape Music Center, a nonprofit organization aiming to present concerts and offer education to those who wanted to learn about the tape music genreIn the same year, composer Stan Shaff and equipment designer Doug McEachern presented the first “Audium” concert at San Francisco State College, the first concert presented in surround-soundIn 1968, composer Wendy Carlos released his first album Switched-On Bach, a collection of pieces by Johannes Sebastian Bach performed by him on a Moog synthesizerIn the latter half of the 1960s, pop and rock bands including The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Pearl Jam, and Genesis began to use electronic instruments to define their soundPopularization: 1970s - 1980sIn 1970, American instrument manufacturing company Moog Music released the Mini-Moog, the first widely available, portable and relatively affordable synthesizer sold in the United StatesThe Mini-Moog became popularly used in popular and electronic music, becoming the most widely used synthesizer of that timeMusician Patrick Gleeson popularized the use of synthesizers for live performances, as they were lighter and more portable than earlier machinesIn 1972, musician Isao Tomita produced Electric Samurai: Switched on Rock, the first Japanese electronic rock albumFrom progressive rock, several musical genres spawned: new-age music, punk rock, and synthpopDevelopment: 1930s - 1950s OriginsIn 1906, American investor Lee de Forest invented the triode Audion tube, a thermionic valve (or "vacuum tube") that could create and transmit audio signals and radio waves from place to placeIn the years following the triode audion tube , the invention of other electronic instruments followed: the Audion piano, also by Lee de Forest, in 1915; and the theremin, by Russian professor Léon Theramin circa 1919-1920Inspired by these inventions, as well as the now-public availability of the previously privately-sold Telharmonium, developed by inventor Thaddeus Cahill in 1897, composers including Tristan Tzara, Kurt Schwitters, and Fillipo Tomasso Marinetti began to use emerging technologies in their music in the early 1920s, sparking the Futurism movementSketch of a New Esthetic of MusicIn 1907, Italian composer, pianist, conductor, editor, writer, and piano teacher Ferrucio Busoni published Sketch of a New Esthetic of Music, an essay that discussed the aspects of music, particularly the emerging technologies of music:

"Music as an art, our so-called occidental music, is hardly four hundred years old; its state is one of development, perhaps the very first stage of a development beyond present conception, and we — we talk of 'classics' and 'hallowed traditions'! And we have talked of them for a long time! We have formulated rules, stated principles, laid down laws;—we apply laws made for maturity to a child that knows nothing of responsibility! Young as it is, this child, we already recognize that it possesses one radiant attribute which signalizes it beyond all its elder sisters. And the lawgivers will not see this marvelous attribute, lest their laws should be thrown to the winds. This child—it floats on air! It touches not the earth with its feet. It knows no law of gravitation . . . it is almost Nature herself." (Busoni 3-4)In 1935, German electronics company AEG developed the first audio tape recorder they branded the Magentophan K1, made of magnetic materialThis invention opened up new possibilities for musicians, composers, producers, and engineers for a number of reasons:

1. It was generally cheaply sold 2. It was a pliable material not prone to breakage 3. It was easy to manipulate 4. It had excellent memory The spread of tape recorders lead to the development of earliest form of electroacoustic tape music, called musique concrète

Futurism and The Manifesto of Futurist MusiciansFuturism was an early twentieth century art movement which encompassed painting, sculpture, poetry, theater, music, architecture, and astronomyFuturist music rejected traditional approaches to music, instead focusing on experimentation inspired by machineryIn 1910, Italian composer, musicologist, and essayist Francesco Balilla Pratella joined the movement, and wrote the Manifesto of Futurist Musicians in 1910, the Technical Manifesto of Futurist Music in 1911, and The Destruction of Quadrature in 1912 in response to it; in the Manifesto of Futurist Musicians, he encourages Futurist musicians:1. To convince young composers to desert formal schools, conservatories, and musical academies for free study2. To ignore any reviews given by critics or academics3. To abstain from participating in any competitions4. To keep distance from commercial and academic circles and adopt a modest life5. To feel the liberation of individual music sensibility free past influences 6. To destroy the prejudice for "well-made" music 7. To proclaim that the reign of the singer must end 8. To transform the title and value of the “operatic libretto” into the title and value of “dramatic or tragic poem for music” 9. To combat historical reconstructions, traditional stage sets, and contemporary dress 10. To combat sacred music 11. To provoke in the public an ever-growing hostility towards old works

The Art of NoisesIn 1913, Italian painter and composer Luigi Russolo wrote The Art of Noises, a classification of "noise-sound" in six categories, in response to the sound art movement happening within Futurism:

Musique concrèteMusique concrète is a genre of electroacoustic music that combines acousmatic sound and musical instruments, the human voice, and/or processingIt was created by Egyptian composer Halim El-Dabu, who recorded a section of a traditional zaar ceremony using a wire recorder and processed the tape using reverberation, echo, voltage controls, and re-recording; his creation, The Expression of Zaar, became the first musique concrète compositionHowever, in 1942, French composer, writer, broadcaster, engineer, musicologist and acoustician Pierre Schaeffer founded the Studio d'Assai, where he began to experiment with sound manipulation that by 1949 became publicly known as musique concrèteIn 1952, Schaeffer published À la recherche d'une musique concrète, a collection of works which discussed the development of musique concrète: "When I proposed the term 'musique concrète,' I intended . . . to point out an opposition with the way musical work usually goes. Instead of notating musical ideas on paper with the symbols of solfege and entrusting their realization to well-known instruments, the question was to collect concrete sounds, wherever they came from, and to abstract the musical values they were potentially containing" (Schaeffer 10)Based on Schaeffer's works, three major groups established: the Groupe de Recherche de Musique Concrète, and the Groupe de Recherches Musicales, and the Traité des objets musicauxTools used in musique concrète included record players, recorders, mixing desks, filters, and microphonesElektronische MusikFor a number of years, beginning in 1952, German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen worked in Schaeffer's studio, where he learned from him the techniques involved in musique concrèteIn 1953, the studio für elektronische Musik (Studio for Electronic Music), the world's first electronic music studio, opened by physicist, experimental acoustician, phoneticist and information theorist Werner Meyer-Eppler, and music theorist, musicologist, journalist, music critic, editor, radio producer, and composer Herbert Eimert in Cologne, GermanyMeyer-Eppler earlier conceived the idea to solely synthesize music from electronicaly produced signals in his 1949 thesis Elektronische Klangerzeugung: Elektronische Musik und Synthetische SpracheMeyer-Eppler and Eimert were soon joined by Stockhausen (having become disinterested in musique concrète) and German-Argentine composer Mauricio KegelIn 1954, Stockhausen composed Elektronische Studie II, the first electronic piece to be published as a score; from its success, electronic music studios began to appear all over the worldJapanese electronic musicAfter Word War II ended, the Japanese began to experiment with electronic music In 1948, Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu developed his own version of musique concrète, in which he "[brought] noise into tempered musical tones inside a busy small tube"In 1949 and 1951 respectively, electronics corporation Sony developed their own versions of magnetic tape: the G-type (for courtroom and office use) and the H-type (for home use)In 1950, musicians Toru Takemitsu, Kuniharu Akiyama, and Joji Yuasa — supported by Sony — founded the Jikken Kōbō (Experimental Workshop), Japan's first electronic music studioThe studio's first piece, "Toraware no Onna" ("Imprisoned Woman") was the first electronic music piece ever recorded in JapanJapan was formally introduced to musique concrète through composer Toshiro Mayuzumi in 1952 after he attended a Schaeffer concert in Paris, France, in which he recorded a musique concrète piece for the Japenese comedy film Carmen Jyunjyosu (Carmen With Pure Heart), which inspired several Japanese electroacoustic musicians to use of serialism and twelve-tone techniquesAmerican electronic musicFrom 1939 to 1952, American composer John Cage published pieces which would become the series Imaginary Landscape,

the first electronic music work published by an American composerIn 1952, Columbia University purchased its first tape recorder; though its original use was for recording purposes, composer Vladimir Ussachevsky experimented with it, and presented several demonstrations of his tape music and effects that he created at his Composers Forum in the McMillin Theatre on May 8 of the same yearThree months later, German-American composer and conductor Otto Luening invited Ussachevsky to his home in Bennington, Vermont to collaborate with him, and they composed several pieces they would go on to present at the first American tape music concert on October 28From this concert, electronic music spread throughout the United States, and by 1954, major composers including In 1958, Columbia, in collaboration with Princeton University, developed the RCA Mark II Sound Synthesizer, the first programmable synthesizerBirth of computer MusicComputer music is the application of computing technology in music compositionIn 1951, Australian scientists Trevor Pearcey and Maston Beard had invented CSIRAC, the first computer to play digital musicIn 1961, American computer engineer LaFarr Stuart programmed Iowa State University's CYCLONE computer to play commonly-known tunes through an amplified speaker However, it was not until February 10, 1962 when computer-produced music was exposed to the public in a radio broadcast on the NBC radio network program Monitor, in which a pre-recorded piece composed by a computer was playedProgressive rockProgressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom that was prominent in the mid-to-late 1960s and early 1970sThe goal of progressive rock music was to abandon typical instrumentation and compositional techniques common in rock music of the time in favour of those associated with classical or jazz musicProgressive rock musicians usually have a higher degree of instrumental and/or vocal skillUnusual tempo, key, and time signature changes and blurred musical forms are common in progressive rock compositionsBands and artists including The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Jefferson Airplane, Pearl Jam, and Genesis began the progressive rock movementNew-age musicNew-age music is a genre of music intended to create a sense of artistic inspiration, relaxation, and optimism in the listenerIt is commonly used in yoga, massage, and meditation sessions to assist in stress management or to create a peaceful atmosphereTopics present in new-age music often include environmentalism or spiritualityNew-age music combines both electronic music and acoustic music with the use of electronic instruments including synth pads and sequencers and acoustic instruments including flutes, a piano, and acoustic guitarsStephen Halpern's Spectrum Suite and Mannheim Steamroller's Fresh Aire, both released in 1975, are regarded as the first new-age music albums ever made, and are what started the new-age movementNew-age was initially produced and sold only by independent labelsBy 1985, independent and chain record retail stores were adding sections for new age, and major labels began showing interest in the genre By 1989, there were over 150 small independent record labels releasing new-age music and over 40 distributors were selling new-age music through mail-order catalogs.Punk rockPunk rock is is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia.Punk rock bands rejected the sentimentality of mainstream 1970s rock in favour of aggressivenessPunk rock songs are typically short or fast-paced with hard-edged melodies and singing styles and stripped-down instrumentationTopics present in punk rock often include political and social issues, anti-establishment, anti-sentimental depictions of love and sexTypical punk rock instrumentation includes one or two electric guitars, an electric bass, and a drum kitPunk rock bands take a minimalistic approach to producing punk rock music, adding as very little electronic effects and/or using as few little electronic instruments as possible (or none at all) to keep their sound authenticThe Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Damned and The Ramones pioneered the punk rock movementSynthpop

Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980sPrimary instruments used in synthpop are synthesizers, drum machines, and sequencersMany synthpop musicians had limited musical skills, relying solely on technology to produce musicDue to this, synthpop music was minimalist, with repeated riffs and no harmonic progressionTopics present in synthpop often include isolation, social rejection, and feelings of emotional coldness and/or hollownessIn the latter half of the 1980s, synthpop musicians incorporated dance beats and more conventional rock instrumentationDuran Duran, Visage, Spandau Ballet, Depeche Mode, Thomas Dolby, Blancmange, and Tears for Fears are pioneers of he synthpop movementTHE